In five of the six metropolitan cities, mayoral candidates of the ruling alliance have maintained leads as of Tuesday afternoon, with a 32-year-old independent candidate creating quite a buzz in Kathmandu Metropolitan City, also the federal capital. CPN-UML candidates are trailing in all metropolitan cities.

Here is the latest update on the mayoral race in the six metropolitan cities of the country.

In Biratnagar, Nagesh Koirala of the Nepali Congress is leading with 19,173 votes, while CPN-UML’s Sagar Kumar Thapa is trailing with 14,338 votes.

In Birgunj, Rajesh Man Singh of the Janata Samajbadi Party is leading with 16,113 votes while Vijay Kumar Sarawagai of the UML trailing with 8,205 votes.

In Kathmandu, independent candidate Balendra Shah has stretched his lead by 11,073 votes. Shah has secured 22,842 votes while UML’s Keshav Sthapit has garnered 11,769 votes.

In Lalitpur, Nepali Congress’ Chiribabu Maharjan has maintained a lead with 16,409 votes. UML’s Hari Krishna Byanjnakar has secured 8,937 votes.

In Pokhara, Dhanraj Acharya of the CPN (Unified Socialist) is leading with 20,749 votes. His close competitor is UML’s Krishna Bahadur Thapa who has secured 18,366 votes.

In Bharatpur, the most talked about metropolitan city this local election, CPN (Maoist Centre)’s Renu Dahal is leading. She has secured 15,513 votes against CPN-UML’s Vijay Subedi who has garnered 12,387 votes.